The Beleaguered Interlopers
by The Indecent Nerd
Summary: Four families - Strider, Lalonde, Egbert, and English - are destined to lead a group of metaphysical-trolls through their world and through a dream bubble that will return them to their physical bodies. The catch? Four of the trolls, who's souls are tainted with evil intent, must die before the others can return home. (Rated T for language. Pairings: Dirk/Jake, RoseMary, and more!)


_**Author's**__**Note**__: _This story will be elaboprate, supernatural, and the like. It is definitely **AU **so don't get mad for inconsistent facts. Essentially, as I will explain in the story, in my fanfic, trolls have to go through this process that is basically a test of character that they must pass so that they are even able to reach adulthood. The trolls enter a state of hibernation and enter the dream bubbles that are shared by the four special families. From their, these bodies take a metaphysical form. It is the job of these siblings to take the trolls through the dream bubbles and enter a new dream bubble that is created so that they can generate a portal and send them back to their true bodies. However, there are trolls who's souls are marked with evil and as long as they are living, the portal will let no one through, so they must be slain. Can the families figure out which trolls need to be slain in time?

**_Pairings:_**Dirk/Jake, CottonCandy, RoseMary, VrisJohn, KaRezi, and many more.

_**Disclaimer:**_I, and I say so with much regret, do not own homestuck.

**Chapter One - Dirk**

The house was quiet. Not the cliche kind of quiet where the silence is described as being too silent, but it lacked a lot of noise one way or the other. Dirk's computer whirred with life even in its sleep mode and Dave's soft snoring could be heard from the door adjacent to Dirk's. The older Strider brother sat at the end of his bed, elbows upon his knees and his head in his hands. He'd just had another one of his dreams, the ones that didn't take place in the violet city but rather in the strange in-between world of slumber and the afterlife. A world where the sleeping and the dead often mingled. Dirk sighed heavily. He hated that place.

He stood and made his way into the bathroom, clad in nothing but boxers. He let the water run and splashed it onto his face. He rubbed his eyes and stared at himself in the mirror. Bags lined his eyes and they made him look older than he really was. To be fair, he felt older. The dreams were increasing as of late and in turn, he forfeited many hours of sleep. He coped with this but the sacrifice was taking a tole on his appearance.

"Oh thank god," a voice muttered. "I thought it was only me."

Dirk turned to the side to find his younger brother, Dave. He was in athletic shorts and wearing his sunglasses. Dirk felt a little better. The in-between world was something he and his brother both visited in their dreams and even had come across each other in a few of them. Dirk remembered the first time it happened. The morning after, he made a subtle suggestion about the dream and Dave's jaw dropped and from there they realized that these were more than just dreams. The Strider brothers found solace in the fact that they had the other with them in such an odd situation.

"No. Tonight's was particularly bad, I couldn't sleep very well."

"I tried my best but I forced myself to wake up," Dave mumbled, still half-asleep. "I saw them this time. It was one of those weird memories. It took me awhile to figure it out this time." Dave looked down at his hands. "It seemed so real."

Dirk rubbed his brother's shoulder gently, as he often did to calm him down. Dave let out a long breath and nodded, signalling that he was calm. Though he knew it was awful, Dirk was actually envious of Dave's dreams. Dirk constantly caught glimpses of gray faces and feelings of foreshadowed anguish, though he could only realize this when he thought about it in the waking world. These were premonition dreams, nothing like Dave's dreams. Dave often caught glimpse of their past, even enjoying conversations with their deceased parents sometimes. The older Strider had never come to know this comfort.

"Tell me about it."

"It was super weird. Like, I vaguely remembered it. Usually these memories are like, ultra huge memories, always important milestones in my life or something that was hella impressionable on my young psyche, y'know?"

"I suppose I do," Dirk responded, though he actually didn't.

"We were on a car ride, over some bridge. We were all in the car. Bro, you, me, and them. We were all singing some stupid song. Dad was laughing. You laughed... And then I remembered about four songs in and things began fading away... And I saw a face. A weird, gray face. Like the ones you see. It was fucking weird," Dave confessed, staring into the mirror. With Dirk standing next to him, it was only possible to tell them apart by height and that was only because Dave was three years younger. Their blond hair was nearly white, Dave's straight and his bangs sweeping over his forehead while his brother's was a bit more messy and tended to stick up in the back. They were pale, tall and lanky, Dave reaching Dirk's neck. The major difference between the two (and it was one difference between the common population) was that Dirk's irises were the bright color of orange and Dave's were the very red of an apple.

"What did it look like?" Dirk was curious. His brother had never let on to seeing the faces before, though he'd brought them up many times himself. He was actually relieved not to be so isolated with this any longer. He wanted to know more. He needed to know if they were the same faces.

"Well, he was wearing make-up. Whatever wasn't gray was white. Like a clown's make up, I guess. He was grinning like a fucking mad man, you know? He had unruly black hair and horns so tall and sharp... And then he-"

"Honked?" Dirk inquired. This was a face he saw many times.

"Yeah. He honked. And I couldn't see him but I felt as if there was something terrible he's going to do. Like I was in tune with his fuckin' fate or some shit."

"I know," Dirk said. He didn't feel like pressing the matter any further tonight. It was already early morning and there was no chance of sleep any more. The last thing he wanted to do was make Dave uncomfortable about this. "You're okay though, aren't you?" He gripped his shoulder. The younger eased ever so slightly.

"Yeah."

"You want to brew some coffee and watch stupid YouTube videos until Bro gets up?" Dirk suggested, hoping to have company and to get rid of the dream world still etched into his mind. He wanted to forget that face until he fell asleep again. Dave nodded.

Dirk left to his room and put on a long-sleeved shirt and then headed to the kitchen to brew coffee for the two of them. When he came back to his bedroom, two mugs in hand, Dave was waiting. He was propped up against the wall, his arms clutching a pillow. He was wearing his sunglasses but Dirk didn't find this odd. They always wore sunglasses to stop others from constantly staring at their uniquely colored eyes. Dirk handed his brother a mug and sat beside him, pull his laptop between them.

They watched funny videos until day-break but try as he might, Dirk could not strip himself of his dream's events. It wasn't much different. He saw gray faces, felt things that have yet to happen, and was shaken to the core as a result. But this time, the clown did more than honk. He actually spoke. And all he said was, "Things will change."

And he was certainly right about that.


End file.
